This invention relates to elongated one-dimensional light receiving element assemblies, and more particularly to an elongated light receiving element assembly which has a bit compensation means for improving the yield thereof.
A close contact type elongated one-dimensional light receiving element assembly using a non-crystalline film has been developed for use as a reading element in a facsimile device or the like, in order to make compact a device which uses no contracting optical system, and to thereby reduce the manufacturing cost thereof. However, it is considerably difficult to manufacture a sensor array having a width of "A4" (210 mm) or "B4" (256 mm), which are common paper sizes. Even in the case of a CCD or MOS type sensor which is much smaller in effective area than the elongated one-dimensional light receiving element assembly, it is considerably difficult to improve the yield in this respect.
With respect to the manufacture of a CCD or MOS type sensor array, a variety of methods of compensating for defective bits have been proposed and used. The concept of compensation has not been proposed for an elongated one-dimensional light receiving element assembly which is much larger in effective area than the aforementioned silicon single crystal element.
As is well known, the percentage of generation of defective bits increases exponentially with the area. Therefore, it is essential for an elongated one-dimensional light receiving element assembly much larger in area than a CCD type sensor array to have a structure for bit compensation, in order to improve the manufacturing yield.